By Paul Punturieri. "A local blog with news, events and things that matter to all citizens of Moultonboro"

"Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.

Alexander Hamilton

Friday, August 7, 2015

Robert B. Hackey: NH's health insurance marketplace has been a success

This article can be fund in today's Union Leader. Robert B. Hackely is the co-author of “Measuring the Performance of Health Insurance Marketplaces” in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They compared various indicators to "compare state implementation of the ACA in 2014 and 2015. New Hampshire stands out as a policy success story." You read that correctly. New Hampshire stands out as New Hampshire".. signed up more eligible individuals at a lower cost than most other states, while simultaneously lowering the cost of premiums offered through the state’s online marketplace."

NH received less than $12 million from the Federal government and enrolled more than 53,000 people in 2015. All used the Healthcare.gov website. Rhode Island by comparison, spent $140 million and enrolled less than 32,000.

New Hampshire was one of only nine states to enroll more than 50% of the potential subscribers. Premiums for coverage fell 17.5% in 2015 compared to 2014, the biggest drop in the nation.

The bottom line in the article is that "..it is possible to implement health care reform at an affordable cost, while maintaining local control over the insurance marketplace."

The question then to our leaders in Concord: why are you refusing to fund this vital program in the current budget? . The nonsense excuse that they will further "study" the program by the end of the year is nothing more than partisan blather. What is their plan to replace this program that actually is working , and has been extremely cost effective if it is not funded?